Welcome to Step 1 of BC’s new Restart Plan! Restaurants are open with indoor and outdoor dining, we can have outdoor gatherings with up to 10 friends or family, and it looks like we’re on course for a really fun – and safe – summer in the province. This weekend you can book your free entry at Burnaby Village Museum, catch some great online programming, or visit a local attraction. Find this and more fun things to do in Vancouver this weekend below:
Strathcona’s galleries are coming together to bring a diverse selection of contemporary art from Indigenous and Canadian artists to the streets through five billboards along East Hastings. Art Walk Strathcona is a self-guided experience that invites people to take a walk, discover the public billboard images, and enjoy a change of perspective.
Art Walk Strathcona
May 21 to June 14 find the public art billboards for a chance to win an exclusive Art Walk Strathcona experience, including your very own art piece.
Monte Clark – 53 Dunlevy
Howard495 – 495 Railway
Mónica Reyes Gallery – 602 E Hastings
Fazakas Gallery – 688 E Hastings
Catriona Jeffries – 950 E Cordova
Wil Aballe Art Projects – 1129 E Hastings
“After a year of being stuck at home, we’re all starved for fresh ideas and inspiration. We can’t think of a better antidote to the bleak mundanity of pandemic life than the Art Walk Strathcona experience,” says Mónica Reyes, Gallery owner and arts supporter. “Art has the power to bring joy, provoke questions, and spark conversations. By bringing art to billboards we can extend the public’s access to the power of art while sharing local artist’s work with audiences who might not normally engage with it”.
When you discover the featured artworks on billboards along East Hastings, snap a picture, share to your Instagram account, use #ArtWalkStrathcona and tag @madeinstrathcona to be entered to win an exclusive Art Walk Strathcona experience prize. The winner will have the opportunity to choose an art piece from a selection from Mónica Reyes Gallery to kick-off your own art collection, experience a private tour for you and friend with the gallery owner at Fazakas Gallery and Howard495, as well as win $200 in gift cards to local cafes, restaurants, and breweries to start and cap off a day of exploring art in Strathcona. Each billboard can be used as a photo entry, up to five entries per person. The contest runs May 21 to June 14, 2021.
Rande Cooke (at FAZAKAS gallery)
It’s no secret that Strathcona is home to a flourishing arts community. Strathcona has also become a hub for some of the most notable contemporary art galleries in Vancouver and across the country. You’ll find galleries focused on lifting up local emerging artists, Indigenous artists, and artists who are renowned nationally and internationally. The diversity of art disciplines, exhibition approaches, and unique spaces offer something for everyone. Follow what intrigues you and explore the associated exhibitions taking place throughout May and June in Strathcona’s gallery district.
Megaphone Magazine invites you to honour the writers published in the 2021 edition of Voices of the Street in a digital event on May 31st. This annual literary anthology provides a platform to amplify the voices of writers facing poverty, homelessness, substance use and mental or physical illness.
Voices of the Street Online Launch Party
When: Monday, May 31, 2021 7:00pm to 8:30pm Where: Online Tickets: Suggested $10 donation, available now. All proceeds made from ticket sales will go directly to low-income writers and readers in the evening’s event.
The theme of the 2021 Voices of the Street — inspired by a difficult year with COVID-19 — is INSIDE We Are All The Same. Writers looked deep within themselves and their community, coming up to the surface with some beautiful, moving and powerful pieces that offer insight into their lives.
During the event, live MCs host the show as they present five writers reading their pieces and an interview with one of the community photographers whose photos were featured in the publication.
As the Zoom fatigue is getting real, organizers have created an event that will allow guests to engage at their own pace, here’s what you can expect:
From 6:45pm to 7:00pm you are welcome to come early to mingle with vendors, staff and readers.
At 7:00pm the program will start and everyone will be muted. You are not required to be seen or heard; just your eyes, ears and heart are needed to participate as we listen to the fabulous MC’s lead us through the powerful performances of our readers.
There will be a comment bar where you can send love to the readers as the event unfolds… AND enter a raffle draw for an awesome prize.
When the program ends at 8:00pm, there will be a time to unmute and mingle again (if you wish) and congratulate the readers on their performances.
At the end of the watch party, Megaphone will also be launching the Voices of the Street interactive map, which complements the Voices of the Street publication. Users can continue watching readings from other writers in the anthology on their own time, as well as go back to the five readers from the watch party to see them again.
More about Voices of the Street: Voices of the Street is Megaphone’s annual literary anthology that champions writers with lived experience of poverty, homelessness, incarceration, substance use and/or mental and physical illness. New this year, the anthology features the work of three community photographers to complement the writers’ poetry and prose. You can purchase the beautiful, full-colour copy from a vendor near you.
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by Rebecca BollwittDisclosure: Sponsored Post — Sponsored by Easter Seals BC & Yukon Please review the Policy & Disclosure section for further information.
The Easter Seals 50/50 raffle is on now, and there are just a few days left to get your tickets! Easter Seals believes everyone should get to go to camp, so with every ticket purchased, you’re helping children and adults with disabilities experience fully accessible camps where they learn life-changing skills & gain life-long friendships.
Easter Seals 50/50
50/50 Sales Deadline: Midnight, Monday, May 31, 2021
50/50 Draw: Tuesday, June 1, 2021 at 12:00pm Pacific
Tickets: 3-Ticket Pack for $10; 15-Ticket Pack for $20; 35-Ticket Pack for $40; 100-Ticket Pack for $100.
“Easter Seals Camps provide both a lot of fun and skills to campers with disabilities,” says Lisa Beck, CEO and President of Easter Seals BC/Yukon. “Our camps are fully accessible and provide a critical opportunity to address isolation and socialization, especially following this year’s pandemic when so many programs and supportive services shut down.”
With every 50/50 ticket purchased, funding will ensure campers receive the onsite support they need, receive healthy meals and snacks, and have access, equipment and supplies for a full camp program whether it’s in person or virtually at home.
This year Easter Seals is offering a number of different camp options for persons with disabilities from ages 6 to 49 years: Outdoor Adventure Day Camps at Camp Winfield in the Okanagan, City Adventure Day Camps in Kelowna, Victoria & Vancouver, seven weeks of Online Virtual Camps and even a Family Weekend Camp at all three of their camp locations – Squamish, Lake Shawnigan and Lake Country.
Easter Seals BC & Yukon has been an established leader in supporting the disabled community since 1952. Over the years, through the BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities, Easter Seals has provided valued programs and services to thousands of families and children. Their work strives to build self-esteem, self-confidence and a sense of independence for the children, youth and adults they work with.
The more tickets sold, the greater the jackpot, and the greater the support for Easter Seals – it’s a true win/win!
Know your limit, play within it. Chances are 1 in 59,000 (total tickets for sale) to win a prize. Actual odds depend on number of tickets sold.
Registration is open for summer EcoCamps in Stanley Park, hosted by the Stanley Park Ecology Society (“SPES”). There is still space available in weeks 1,2,7 and 8 right now, with waitlist spots available for the others. Here’s the full rundown of each camp week, and scroll down for info about the online (at home) Critter Club!
SPES day camper investigates sap sucker holes. Photo by Don Enright.
Summer EcoCamps in Stanley Park
Camps for kids ages 7 to 11 run weekly, rain or shine, through July & August, 9:00am to 4:00pm. SPES will strictly adhere to social distancing in all activities while still delivering a fun and educational camp for your child. See more on COVID-19 guidelines here.
Weekly Themes
July 5 – July 9: Flying Wonders: Is your child curious about the animals that fly overhead? Do they wonder about bird calls, bat wings and what makes a flying squirrel fly? If so, the Flying Wonders camp is for them! This week, our campers will learn about the amazing ducks, hawks, owls, and other flying creatures that call Stanley Park home, and will have a hoot doing it.
